1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to power lawnmowers and, more particularly, to power lawnmowers that have provisions for collecting lawn cuttings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When lawns are cut, sometimes the cuttings are left on the lawns where they are recycled naturally. At other times, the cuttings are collected to be disposed of or to be recycled elsewhere. A number of ways are available for collecting lawn cuttings. The simplest is to rake up the cuttings. This way is simple, yet very time consuming and requires a great amount of extra work. Another approach for collecting cuttings is to have a collection container associated with lawnmower. In this respect, throughout the years, a number of innovations have been developed relating to lawnmowers that have associated containers for the collection of lawn cuttings, and the following U.S. Pat. Nos. are representative of some of those innovations: 4,054,023, 4,996,829, 5,042,241, 5,125,222, 5,179,824, and 5,365,727. More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,023 discloses a riding lawnmower that has a vertically oriented, top loading collection container. The collection container receives cuttings through a conduit which extends from the collection container to the housing which houses the cutting blade. The motion of the cutting blade creates the energy to lift the cuttings and a stream of carrier air from the lower level of the cutting blade housing to the elevated level of the top of the collection container. During use of this lawnmower, the cutting blade housing may become clogged with lawn cuttings. This is especially true when the lawn is especially long. Such a clogging of the cutting blade housing can impede reduce the lifting power and impede the flow of cuttings from the cutting blade housing to the collection container. To avoid the effects of clogging of the cutting blade housing on the transport of cuttings to the collection container, it would be desirable if a device for collecting lawn cuttings did not depend upon lifting pressure developed in a cutting blade housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,829 discloses a lawnmower that has a blower and blower housing that are contained in the cutting blade housing and that are in close proximity to the cutting blade. As a result, cuttings that are not readily lifted by the blower can readily clog the blower. Moreover, the presence of the blower and the blower housing in the cutting blade housing can detract from optimum performance of the cutting blade. Preferably, a cutting blade housing should be designed for optimum performance of a cutting blade without consideration of a blower or blower housing. In this respect, it would be desirable if a lawnmower cutting collection device were provided which has a blower and blower housing which are not contained in a cutting blade housing.
Each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,042,241, 5,125,222, 5,179,824, and 5,365,727 discloses a lawnmower that has a bag for collection of cuttings wherein the collection bag is oriented substantially horizontally so that the opening for the collection bag is not located vertically above the bottom of the collection bag. As a result, the opening of the collection bag has a tendency to clog with cuttings. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,054,023 and 4,996,829, a vertically oriented collection container that receives cuttings through a container opening that is oriented vertically above the bottom of the container provides for an efficient mode of cutting collection. With such a collection container, the pull of gravity helps cuttings clear the container opening thereby helping to prevent clogging of the container opening. In this respect, it would be desirable if a lawnmower cutting collection device were provided which has a collection opening that is oriented vertically above the bottom of a collection container.
A blower device has input air supply and an air output. With the air blowers disclosed in each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,054,023 and 4,996,829, the input air supply is laden with lawn cuttings. Burdening the input air supply with cuttings reduces the efficiency and lifting power of the blower. In this respect, it would be desirable if a lawnmower cutting collection device were provided with a blower that has an input air supply that is free of lawn cuttings.
With each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,054,023 and 4,996,829, lawn cuttings are pushed from the cutting blade housing to a collection container. The pushing effect contributes to the tendency of the cuttings to clog the transport conduit to the collection container. In this respect, it would be desirable if a lawnmower cutting collection device were provided which pulls lawn cuttings from the cutting blade housing.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use blower-containing devices for collecting lawn cuttings, the prior art described above does not teach or suggest a lawnmower blower apparatus which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) does not depend upon lifting pressure developed in a cutting blade housing for transporting cuttings; (2) has a blower and blower housing which are not contained in a cutting blade housing; (3) has a collection opening that is oriented vertically above the bottom of a collection container; (4) provides a blower that has an input air supply that is free of lawn cuttings; and (5) pulls lawn cuttings from the cutting blade housing. The foregoing desired characteristics are provided by the unique lawnmower blower apparatus of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.